Social media has greatly changed how people communicate. Not long ago, people communicated through landline telephone, mail, and in person. Today, we leave voice messages, send text messages, send emails; talk through cell phones, headphones, internet video phones; and to greater extent, interact through the internet where a surfeit of social media tools has redefined communication in the society. Such a redefinition has influenced how many people in the society speak or interact (Thorne 90). For example, the persons who use most of their time on social media such as Facebook and twitter have the tendency of using abbreviation in their writings. This paper analyzes how social media has greatly influenced the language of communication in the society.
The social media has had negative impact to communication in the society. For example, Twitter, which is an extremely popular social network, enables its users to send text messages containing a maximum of 140 characters. This restriction produces drastic changes on the social dynamic of communication, as it limits the user to pass information in not more than 140 characters as opposed to normal conversation. The restriction can also drive the user to abbreviate or misspell words to deliver the message. Consequently, more than 500 million users around the world are developing the habit of abbreviating and misspelling word in their day-to-day life. These negative impacts of social media will increase grammatical mistakes among students because they spend most of their time communicating using abbreviations and misspellings (Monaco 15).
With the invention of faster and more varied communication channels via social technologies and social media, language has adapted credibly well. According to Leslie Savan, social media such as Facebook affect the way people from different geographic regions communicate to each other (54). Social media provides a platform where people from different geographic locations and language adopt a convenient means of communication over the social media. This may culminate into use of informal languages and continued use of these informal languages may encourage their use in formal settings. For example, advertisers in the social media may use languages that are not grammatically correct to appeal to a specific group of readers (Kevelson, 87). People may pick words they find interesting in advertisements and use them in their daily life.
However, Monaco Monaco argues that social media have positive impact on communication (Monaco 15). In the next few years, there will be more people speaking English in countries that are non-speakers. Today, the social media such as Facebook and other micro blogs serves as an avenue where new variations in words and acronyms are posted. Prior to these social technologies, when television, print, and radio served as the sole mass communication, such evolution of words and acronyms, and the way they are used took a long time. The advent of social technology has made it easier for people to learn new forms of communication and enhance their communication skills. Social media can have a positive impact on communication by expanding vocabularies and enhancing cultural exchange (Lamy, Mangenot and Zourou 92).
In conclusion, it is evident that proper use of language in the social media can help grow language. However, improper use of language may only serve to kill our languages by destroying morals and culture. It is therefore important for the new generation to use social technologies to enhance their communication skills and enhance cultural exchange.
Works Cited:
Lamy, Marie-Noëlle, Mangenot François and Zourou Katerina. Key issues and recommendations for the development of language resources for language learning by the use of social media. Web 13 May, 2013 http://www.elearningeuropa.info/en/debates/language-learning-social-media-and-development-language-resources
Kevelson, Roberta. The Inverted Pyramid: chapter 3, An Introduction to a Semiotics of Media Language. Bloomington: Indiana University, 2007.
Monaco, James. How to Read a Film: The World of Movies, Media, and Multimedia: Language, History, Theory. New York times pp-15, 2000.
Savan, Leslie. Slam Dunks and No-Brainers: Language in Your Life, the Media, Business, Politics, And, Like, Whatever. New York: Knopf, 2005.
Thorne, Steven. "'Community', semiotic flows, and mediated contribution to activity". Lang. Teach. 42 (1): 81–94. 2009
